It has always been my train of thought that vets are meant to give out medical/pharmaceutical(sp) advice only. Not training, not breeding, not nutrition. Well this idea has been clearly reinforced last saturday in Vet Assist. class.
We were talking a bit about animal handling, and obviously this was going to go into behaviorism and training. Well we got offtopic (happens often
) talking about training dogs, and someone asked what he can do about dog and jumping on people. This being a common question on forums, I began thinking of the different things he could try....I was wondering what the professor would say....the second I heard the advice given I flinched
The professor, a long time Registered Veterinarian Technician, Dog Breeder (maybe??), and Handler said that the best way to get rid of this behavior on the dog (which was a Pit) was to knee it on the chest..........here was my face>>>>
When we got on the topic of puppy nipping the advice was to give it a good swat......
Don't get me wrong, I really admire our professor, she knows her stuff and gives awesome advice when it comes to being part of the veterinary team, but two thumbs way down for the training aspect. I decided to butt-in and offer the negative punishment/dog friendly method of ignoring the dog until it sits down. She said that would work too
Anyway, I remain solid in my position that vets should only give medical advice unless thoroughly trained in other fields.
What do you guys think?